Andrew Zonenberg

Checked in on the solar stats after a week of nice weather when I wasn't home.

Total 1.1 MWH production YTD.

146 kWh in January but this is lower than the normal number since the array was down for a week or two between commissioning and final inspection.

393 kWh in February, the first full month of operation.

574 kWh in March to date and there's still a few days left, good chance I'll hit 600.

Best day so far was last Sunday the 22nd with 34.9 kWh output although I've had several other days come close.

Still not nearly enough to fully match my consumption, but I wasn't expecting that especially this time of year.

Mar 27 at 8:39pmWeb
Show threadLunaphiedMar 27
@azonenberg your consumption is over 574kWh per month??
Show threadAndrew ZonenbergMar 27
@Lunaphied month to date my consumption is 4.3 MWh. That's a bit higher than last month which only hit 3.9 MWh in total
Show threadLunaphiedMar 27
@azonenberg wow that's quite a high figure I think?
Show threadAndrew ZonenbergMar 27

@Lunaphied my lab is quite large :P

The 41 solar panels on the roof are part of a larger plan (including a future energy harvesting heat pump so I can use waste heat from the lab to heat the house in the winter when the solar panels are least effective) to reduce the cost and environmental impact of the setup.

The latter is less of a concern since my grid power is mostly renewable anyway in these parts, there's a lot of hydro and a fair bit of wind.

But my power bill is like $800+ a month and I figured I should do something about it :P

Show threadAndrew ZonenbergMar 27

@Lunaphied My annual power consumption is circa 54 MWh/yr and the solar installer's estimate was that the array would generate a touch under 10, so on the order of 20% of my annual demand.

Hoping to bring demand down in addition to generating power on site so I can reduce imported power from both directions simultaneously.

Show threadAndrew ZonenbergMar 27

@Lunaphied I'm actually self sufficient at the moment, burning 6.2 kW while generating 7.1 and exporting 900W to the grid.

But this time of year I'm only able to do that for a few hours during the afternoon then I fall back to importing power from the grid as supply falls below demand

Show threadAndrew ZonenbergMar 27
@Lunaphied and of course I am nowhere near the point of being able to add battery storage to meet overnight demand... while I will have a surplus during the summer, it's not going to be enough to justify a significant investment in storage. I'm better off just running the meter backwards when I overproduce and re-importing an equivalent amount of grid power overnight
Show threadVincent BaetenMar 27
@azonenberg 🤯 I wouldn't want to be paying that here in Belgium. Last year total day/night consumption was 828/478 kWh.
Show threadAndrew ZonenbergMar 27

@vbaeten When I first bought the place the rates were like under 10 cents a kWh, they've gone up significantly recently (like 20-30% each year) to the point that solar rapidly started to make a lot of sense.

Then with the tax credits expiring end of tax year 2025 I figured it was now or never and jumped on it

Show threadAndrew ZonenbergMar 27
@vbaeten the lab is my main source of power consumption and it's a pretty steady ~4.5 kW base load 24/7, my load doesn't fluctuate much day vs night
Show threadAndrew ZonenbergMar 27
@vbaeten (also to clarify, the post you're commenting on is the amount generated by my solar array... actual demand was much higher than production)